The ‘Great Unknown’ (Unknowing) is about deliberately shedding your existing knowledge and assumptions. Experts often suffer from “Expert Blindness”—they stop seeing the obvious because they’ve seen it a thousand times. By approaching a challenge with a “Beginner’s Mind” (Shoshin), you can ask the fundamental questions that lead to disruptive innovation.
The Power of Not Knowing
The biggest barrier to seeing what’s possible is what you already “know.” To find a breakthrough, you must first become an “unknowing” observer—an alien, a child, or an outsider.
Define the Context
Clearly state the process or journey you want to redesign.
Example: “How can we fundamentally redesign the healthcare patient journey?”
Shed Your Expertise
Imagine you are an alien visiting Earth for the first time. You know nothing about insurance, medicine, or wait times.
“Why do these humans sit in a small room for an hour before seeing the healer?” “Why do they write the same information on three different pieces of paper?” “Why does the healer look at a glowing box more than the patient?”
Identify the Blind Spots
List the assumptions that are so “obvious” that everyone has stopped questioning them.
- Assumption: Waiting rooms are an unavoidable part of healthcare.
- Assumption: Doctors must type their own notes during the consultation.
- Assumption: Paper forms are required for legal security.
Solve from 'Zero'
Create solutions that ignore the “standard” way of doing things.
- Idea (from the waiting room): Virtual waiting rooms. Patients wait in their own homes or a nearby café and are alerted via phone exactly 2 minutes before the doctor is ready.
- Idea (from the doctor typing): Use AI voice-to-text to transcribe the meeting, so the doctor can focus 100% on the human in front of them.
Practice
Context: “A Grocery Store.” Beginner Question: “Why do I have to push a heavy cart around when the food is right there?” What is a solution that solves this “expert blindness”?